Descent

  Elixia ran through the hallways looking for Harry. She sped around one of the corners and nearly collided with him.

  ‘Did you contact them?’ she asked breathlessly.

  Harry nodded ‘They’re on their way. They’ll know what to do.’

  ‘But in the meantime—’ she said as the two of them rushed back to her office.

  ‘In the meantime we stall him,’ Harry said firmly. Satine was waiting for them outside Elixia’s door.

  ‘I’ve just been speaking to Accolon,’ she said as the three of them entered Elixia’s study and locked the door behind them. ‘He won’t budge!’

  ‘We’ve all been trying to convince him,’ Harry said. ‘Nothing seems to be getting through to him.’

  ‘He wants the protectors taken down in the morning in preparation for tomorrow night,’ Elixia said. ‘That’s actually what he said— in preparation.’

  ‘Gods, what does he think he’s preparing for?’ Satine breathed. ‘The deaths of all his people?’

  ‘Should we tell them?’ Harry asked. ‘Is it time to start evacuating everyone to somewhere safer?’

  ‘There is nowhere safer!’ Elixia snapped. ‘No other city could possibly hold so many people, nor could we get them there in time. Telling them will only cause panic and make them easier targets.’

  ‘But surely they need to know so that they can do something—’

  ‘There is nothing they can do!’ the High Queen pressed. ‘Nothing. They will be vulnerable once the city is exposed. Slowly we will all fall.’

  ‘Can’t you teach people how to control their dreams?’ Satine asked.

  Elixia sighed. ‘It takes many hours to teach one person how to even begin fighting within their dreams. How could I possibly do that for everyone in this city? I haven’t even been able to help Jack.’

  ‘Where is Jack?’ Harry asked suddenly.

  ‘I do not know. But he hasn’t been doing well.’

  ‘Has he been able to sleep yet?’

  Elixia shrugged sadly. ‘I don’t know. He’s resisting it—he doesn’t think I know what I’m talking about.’

  There was a silence. The three of them looked at each other.

  ‘We have to stop this,’ Harry said finally.

  ‘Yes, but how?’ Satine exclaimed. ‘No one can overrule Accolon. The El~araih will kill anyone that poses a threat to him.’

  ‘Gods, this is a mess,’ Elixia muttered. ‘I have men of my own, but they are too few to fight Accolon—he has every soldier in the city working for him.’

  ‘What if they could be told that what they’re doing will get them killed?’ Harry said. ‘Surely people would stand up to him if they knew that.’

  Elixia shook her head. ‘You don’t know the fear that the El~araih command. No one will do a thing against them. All we can do, I think, is try to convince Accolon, and hope the others get here with an idea.’

  Her words sounded hollow and hopeless even to her own ears.

  ‘We’ll stop him,’ Harry said. ‘Even if I have to shoot the man myself.’

  Neither of the women bothered to tell him that if he tried that he would be dead before he could draw an arrow.

  ‘This is it,’ Anna said to Locktar. The dragon breathed a puff of smoke in fury. ‘No matter what, I need you to keep going. You have to get to Amalia, even without me—you are the best weapon we have.’

  The Valkyries were closing in. Anna drew her sword, looking over her shoulder. One of the creatures reached her, and she swung viciously, catching it in the neck.

  All at once they were surrounding her, swooping through the air from every direction. Locktar gave a mighty roar and blew a gust of fire, killing several that had been flying too close. Anna dodged the dives that flew past her head, trying to catch the creatures with her sword. There were so many, and she couldn’t protect all sides.

  She hacked at them as their talons raked through her hair and her clothes and too close to her skin.

  Finally, at last, Amalia came into view. Sobbing with relief, Anna swung her sword, over and over again, killing more of the creatures, but not nearly enough. The Valkyries started attacking Locktar. He bellowed fire, but they were attacking him from below now, raking their claws into his fleshy underbelly.

  Locktar shrieked in fury and pain, flapping his wings as hard as he could, but Anna could tell he was tiring. There was no way he could keep this pace up for long. Amalia grew larger, but it was still so far away, and they were attacking his wings now.

  Crying, Anna tried to defend her beloved, but she couldn’t reach all of the Valkyries. She had been too hasty upon leaving Sitadel, and they were both going to pay the price. Usually when Anna flew she strapped herself onto the dragon’s back with a series of leather ties to ensure he could move freely without her falling off. In this way the two of them had developed a series of moves that could beat a huge number of Valkyries in the sky. But she’d left in such a state of panic that she’d forgotten about the harness, which meant that Locktar couldn’t properly fight or evade the creatures, lest he buck Anna from his back.

  A frustrated cry tore from her lips—how could she have been so stupid? Were they both to die now because of one ridiculous mistake?

  ‘Just a bit farther,’ she told him desperately. ‘You can do it, darling.’

  With a mighty roar, Locktar dove towards the city. Blood poured from his body, and the creatures continued to attack. Anna managed to kill another two before, finally, they crossed through the dream protectors and the Valkyries could follow them no longer.

  Anna cried out in relief. She waited for Locktar to pull out of his dive and land safely on the ground, but he didn’t. He just kept falling.

  Horrified, Anna watched as the ground sped towards them. The dragon was either unconscious, or too weak to do anything about it.

  Finally Anna threw herself against the neck of her dragon. Squeezing her eyes shut, she whispered, ‘I love you.’ At the end, there was nothing else in her heart.

  Locktar opened his eyes one final time, a surge of strength coursing through his body with her words. He gave a final, weak flap of his wings.

  The dragon swooped out of its headlong dive and pummelled sideways into the ground, taking the brunt of the impact from the crash. Anna flew from Locktar’s back and slammed into the ground, the wind instantly knocked out of her.

  She tried to scream but no sound came out of her mouth. Her vision clouded with red as she tried desperately to suck air into her lungs, panic and shock throbbing through her.

  Gasping for air, Anna dragged herself to her knees, looking for him. A great chasm had been cleaved out of the ground where Locktar landed, a huge hole that seemed to be as wide as it was deep. And within it lay the unmoving form of the dragon.

  Anna crawled as fast as she could, through the ache of her bones, to the edge of the chasm. She let herself tumble down the side of it, dirt filling her eyes and mouth, until she crashed into the side of her beloved animal. Clutching at his scales, she managed to pull herself up to face him, his eyes closed, his breath still.

  ‘No,’ Anna cried, her voice a terrible hacking sound. She cleared the dirt from her face so that she could look at him properly, but her vision became shrouded with tears instead. ‘No, no, no,’ she wept. ‘Please get up. You have to. Don’t leave me here!’

  But the mighty beast did not move.

  Chapter 36

  Fern had taken the second unicorn, leaving Altor to climb onto Jane’s mount behind her. Altor’s eyes had been dark as he’d done so, casting a wary glance at Fern before moving his arms around Jane’s waist. She felt his grip on her tighten through the journey, and his breathing against the back of her neck was warm, but neither of them said anything. Even now, wracked by catastrophe as they were, Jane could still think back all those years ago, and imagine what the contact would have done to Altor in the beginning. She wasn’t sure if it would be the same now. He gave no indication that he felt strangely about holding her li
ke this in front of Fern, so maybe she was just imagining things. She was glad, not for the first time, that neither of them could remember.

  Together the three of them circled down over the palace in Amalia, finally arriving just after sunset. But something was clearly visible from their view in the sky, making her steer away from the roof and instead land on the grass within the palace grounds.

  There was a giant hole in the ground, as if it had been hit by a meteor. Within the hole there lay a dragon, with a tiny girl draped over it.

  ‘Anna!’ Jane yelled, leaping off the unicorn. Fern landed swiftly behind her and three of them raced to the side of the chasm.

  ‘Anna!’ she called again, a sense of dread in her stomach. Just as she was about to climb down into the hole, Anna’s head lifted to look at them and Jane nearly collapsed with relief.

  There were tears streaming down Anna’s cheeks, making tracks in the dirt that covered her skin, and her face was twisted into a horrible grimace of pain.

  ‘Oh, god,’ Jane gasped, sliding down into the hole. ‘Are you okay?’

  ‘He’s dead,’ Anna sobbed, burying her face in the dragon’s scales. ‘He’s dead and it’s my fault. He was trying to protect me.’

  Tears welled in Jane’s eyes, realising what must have happened. She didn’t know what to do. There was too much grief, plain in the heartbroken face of her friend.

  ‘Just leave me alone,’ Anna cried, closing her eyes.

  ‘Don’t you want to come inside—?’

  ‘NO! Leave me alone!’ Suddenly Anna’s voice was a shriek. ‘Get away from me! I want to be alone with him. Leave!’

  Biting her lip, Jane reluctantly did as she was told. Fern was there to help her climb out of the chasm and with a last, sorrowful look at Anna, the three of them went into the palace.

  They were met with complete disarray. People were running everywhere—palace servants, soldiers, members of the guard, El~araih—it was chaos. They stood at the door, trying to make sense of it.

  ‘Jane!’ a voice screamed, and she looked up to see Harry sprinting across the hall. ‘Thank god you’re here!’ he breathed, his eyes wide and panicked. Harry grabbed Jane and hugged her so tight she thought her ribs might break. At the same time, she didn’t want to let him go.

  ‘It’s so good to see you!’ she said.

  ‘Tell me about it,’ Harry agreed vehemently, finally pulling away. ‘He hasn’t done it yet, but he’s arranging for at least fifty soldiers to take them down in the morning.’

  ‘And they’re agreeing to this!’

  ‘They don’t know what the purpose of it is—no one would ever believe that their king is going out of his way to harm everyone. Plus, they’re too terrified of the El~araih to question his motives.’

  ‘Where is my sister?’ Fern asked quickly.

  ‘I’ll take you to her,’ Harry said, turning to push through the current of people. Jane had never seen the palace so full. Her head was spinning.

  She looked at Altor, realising that he hadn’t followed them. ‘Are you coming?’

  He frowned, cracking his knuckles. ‘I need to check something,’ was all he said as he disappeared in the other direction. Jane ran to catch up with Fern and Harry, rounding several corners to get to Accolon’s study.

  The sight that met them was extraordinary. Accolon stood behind his desk, but surrounding him was what had to be close to every member of the El~araih guard, their swords raised. Satine and Elixia were facing him.

  ‘This is wrong!’ they were in time to hear Elixia cry. The ancient soldiers rearranged their positions flawlessly as the newcomers entered.

  The three of them stopped and stared at the frightening guards. ‘What are you doing, Accolon?’ Fern asked softly, his voice strained.

  Satine stared at him, stunned. ‘But you’re dead!’ she whispered.

  ‘Elixia brought me back,’ Fern said impatiently, his eyes never leaving Accolon’s face. ‘I’ll ask it again—what are you doing, Accolon?’

  ‘What’s best for this country,’ the king replied flatly, giving no indication that he noticed or cared that Fern was alive. His face was expressionless, his eyes dead as he gazed back at them. Looking at him Jane realised that there was to be no convincing him. He wasn’t the man she remembered—he seemed truly insane.

  ‘Why?’ Fern pressed. ‘Who’s making you believe that this is right?’

  With that question the atmosphere changed. Elixia and Satine both looked at Fern, realising that they’d overlooked the most important aspect of this madness. Accolon, for his part, looked outraged.

  ‘No one!’ he hissed. ‘No one tells me what to do! This war is costing far too much. It’s draining the economy and sending the government broke.’

  ‘But it’s not a war that you can just choose to stop fighting,’ Fern said calmly. ‘If you stop defending, Accolon, your people will die. This is bigger than money.’

  Accolon shook his head. ‘Are you speaking against me?’ he asked very softly.

  Elixia shook her head desperately, but Fern didn’t heed her. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘If I must, then I will.’

  ‘As will I,’ Jane said. If the High King felt any surprise at seeing her returned to the world, then he did a very good job of hiding it.

  ‘Very well,’ he said. ‘You have both spoken treason and as a consequence shall be sentenced to the dungeons until your death sentences can be carried out.’

  ‘What?’ Elixia screamed. ‘ No!’

  Fern was about to draw his sword as the advancing El~araih surrounded the two of them, but Jane quickly hissed at him to stop. Casting a glance at her, he raised his hands helplessly, allowing them both to be taken hold of and thrown into a cell far below in the dungeons.

  Altor had spent a lot of time expecting the worst. From people, from life, from himself. Maybe that’s why the thought came to him first, before it came to anyone else. Something raced around and around in his head, and if it happened to be true, then he knew they were all doomed.

  He ran through the hallways and down several sets of steps, asking people as he went for directions.

  Finally Altor made it to the big library, full to bursting with dusty books and scrolls. True to their nature, the librarians had taken no notice of the commotion in the palace, but were still hunched over their scrolls.

  ‘I need help,’ Altor snapped. They all looked up to see who had disturbed the quiet.

  ‘What sort of help, son?’ one of the old men asked cheerfully.

  ‘Forbidden lore,’ Altor said perfunctorily. The faces of the librarians changed in an instant. They all stared at him with suspicion.

  ‘My lord, I don’t know who you are, but we certainly don’t hold forbidden lore in this library!’

  ‘Have done with the lies,’ Altor said flatly. ‘My name is Prince Altor of Lapis Matyr and I don’t care what rules have been in place up until now. I need you to tell me everything you know about the ruler of the El~araih and how they are bound to the kings of Paragor.’

  ‘Fern!’ Elixia exclaimed as she, Satine and Harry arrived at the dungeons. He and Jane were sitting in separate cells, steel bars between them, dark expressions on both their faces.

  ‘We’re all right,’ Fern said quickly.

  ‘I can’t believe he’s done this!’ she fumed, shaking her head. ‘What are we going to do? None of us have the keys!’

  ‘It’s okay,’ Jane said. ‘Don’t focus on us—do what you can to stop Accolon.’

  Satine rested her forehead on the bars. ‘But we don’t know how!’

  ‘What did you mean, Fern, when you asked him who was making him do this?’ Harry said carefully.

  Fern spread his hands wide. ‘I don’t know, Harry. It was a guess. But it just seems to me that the only way he could have fallen so far from who he used to be is with the help of some other force.’

  ‘It may be the Valkyries,’ Satine added. ‘It’s clear that he’s being attacked in his sleep. Maybe this is what th
ey sought all along—to gain control of our king.’

  ‘Harry,’ Jane said suddenly, ‘You need to go and check on Anna. Locktar was attacked as they flew back here. The dragon’s dead.’

  Harry looked horrified. ‘Christ,’ he groaned. ‘She’ll be devastated. What more could possibly go wrong?’ He disappeared up the steps in an instant.

  Jane noticed that Elixia was staring worriedly at Fern.

  ‘Are you all right?’ Elixia asked her brother. He nodded mutely, not bothering to reply. Jane looked at him too—his eyes were so hollow and exhausted that he looked like a walking corpse.

  ‘Have you been sleeping?’ Elixia pressed.

  ‘Of course,’ he snapped.

  ‘Okay,’ she said slowly, still unable to look away.

  Jane motioned for Elixia to come closer. ‘Athena was killed by the Valkyries,’ she whispered.

  Elixia looked stunned. She turned to her brother, her eyes filling with tears. ‘Oh, gods,’ she whispered, her hand over her mouth. ‘How much more can he take?’

  Jane looked at Fern and felt her heart ache. ‘I really don’t know.’ Anna waited until Jane had gone into the palace before she sat up and lifted the dragon’s head into her lap. She wasn’t ready to lose him. Not when she was supposed to be the one to die.

  ‘Locktar,’ she whispered, her voice very calm. ‘I need you to live. I need you to wake up. I know you’re hurt, sweetheart, but you have to do whatever it takes to come back to me.’

  She waited, and she willed, and wished and prayed and begged, and when she’d done all of those things, she sat still, staring at him.

  ‘ Wake up!’ she yelled, shaking him desperately.

  After what seemed like an age, Locktar moved.

  His eyelid twitched. So did his nostril. A warm gust of breath shot out of his nose, and slowly he opened his eyes. Her cry of ecstasy died on her lips, however, when she saw him begin to pant and heave, trying to draw breath.

  ‘Locktar, what—?’

  The beast let out a horrendous shriek of pain and fury. Anna crawled back, eyes wide with terror. The dragon lifted himself wearily to his feet, his body sagging from the effort. Suddenly he reared back on his legs and his chest bulged unnaturally. His red eyes glowed.